Love Hath No Limits
by airwolf addict
Summary: Story 27. When part of the family mysteriously disappears, Airwolf and what's left of her crew are the only hope to save them, and even then that may not be enough...
1. Chapter 1

_"In dreams and in love there are no impossibilities."_

_Janos Arany (The greatest Hungarian epic poet, 1817- 1882)_

_"Love hath no law but his own"_

_ William Shakespeare _

CHAPTER 1

Blessed silence finally reigned for what seemed like the first time in weeks to Saint John Hawke. Come to think of it, maybe it _was_ the first time in weeks. Le and Joshua together were quite a handful, and while he loved them both unconditionally, he didn't envy his brother at the moment. String had taken all three boys for a weekend camping trip, and the bravery that must've taken he couldn't imagine. A three year old, six year old, and fifteen year old loose in the woods - that would be some kind of experience. Due to his brother's favor, he had the whole weekend to do whatever he wanted to do; it was all up to him. He had an open invite to join the campers anytime, or Caitlin had offered him to let him spend a while at the cabin. Alone time. It was an odd thing to him. Something everyone needed some of, the question was how much. String could enjoy long periods of time alone and love it; he also retreated and hid away from the rest of the world whenever something happened. Caitlin, on the other hand, was more of a sharer, liked some time alone, but much more of a social person than her husband. Opposites attract - that's what they say. He, well, he wasn't quite sure what he liked. So much time in imprisonment had forced him to be able to get along with most anyone for lone times in small enclosed area, but also caused him to savor the time alone too. Now, what to do?

\A/

The room was quiet other than the methodical hiss and beeps of the life-support machinery and the low undertones he talked in. Ellie remained silent and still, maybe always would. At least a couple of times a week he still made time to come visit her prone form, hoping that one day there would be more than that. Eventually she might come around, it had happened before to people, sometimes after months or even years. What could it hurt to help? Only dreams that may never come true.

"Hey Ellie," he greeted, only to receive the silent treatment he was expecting. "Joshua is doing pretty well. He and Le get along great, although they're a bit noisy at times. My apartment currently looks like a cross between a battlefield and a toy store that exploded. He and Chance could be brothers too, the age difference doesn't seem to bother any of them. Right now String is taking them all camping. I might join them tomorrow, don't know for sure yet. And Dom's been good. Lately business at the hanger has kept us occupied. Le's really enjoying being out of school for the summer, even helping out at the hangar where he can, although he can't get his commercial license until he turns seventeen. Won't be that long though, I guess. Time sure does fly. If there was one thing in the world I could have, it would probably be to make up the time - you, Le, String, Dom… I've just missed so much."

\A/

Opening the bottle and taking a long draw on it, Mike Rivers studied his friend carefully, trying to pinpoint the problem, then set the amber colored bottle down with solid thump on the coffee table. He really couldn't figure it out. Saint John had seemed ok last time he had seen him, which admittedly had been a while, but there wasn't anything to indicate why things would be different now. A quick visit to stop and say hi, that's all this was supposed to be, but something was seriously wrong.

"Alright, I give. What's eating you?"

Saint John didn't answer but proceeded with throwing the TV dinner into the microwave and mashing the buttons unnecessarily hardly. "You want one, Mike? I've got pork fried rice with and an egg roll, or country steak left. The egg roll tastes like rubber though."

"I'll take my chances with the pork fried rice," he answered, "just do me a favor and make sure this is my last beer."

Saint John nodded absently and pulled out his microwaved dinner, throwing Mike's in next as he took his food back to the living room and sat down with his friend.

"Ok, for real, what's bugging you?"

"Who said anything was?"

"It's obvious," Mike stated. "I know your brother took Le and ran off to go camping somewhere. What? He threatened not to return him or something? Feed him to the bears, mountain lions, or whatever else lurks around in the shadows once it gets dark at that heavenly, peaceful, and tranquil Eagle Lake?"

"No, nothing like that, although I have questioned my parenting ability a little in the last couple weeks. I mean, how hard can it be to raise two boys?"

"Whoa, hold up. Since when did you have two? Forgetting to tell Uncle Mikey that you've added to the clan? I need to know these things. And how is the special lady?"

"It's complicated."

"Oh just tell me."

"It's Ellie Mae, only it's her son, not mine."

"Ok, you were right; it is complicated. How did you end up with her kid if he isn't also your kid?"

"He, Joshua, was Ellie and her husband Arthur's son, but Arthur was murdered. Ellie and I had been seeing each other occasionally since then, nothing too serious, but I hoped maybe one day… Anyway, she got in a bad accident on her trip to Italy."

"And things didn't turn out so well," Mike surmised.

"She's still in a coma, has been for about six weeks. Josh didn't have any other known living relatives that could take him, so I adopted him."

"I see," Rivers commented, now feeling guilty for what he had intended to be harmless jokes. He didn't really know Ellie Mae all that well, but the fact was the same - she was in a coma, and his friend was hurting.

"I'll get over it eventually, and there's nothing you could have done about it. So, what did you come by for in the first place?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Nothing much, just to come by and check in on an old friend."

"Old friend?"

"Well you are older than me, even your brother is."

"By one day," Saint John countered, " still far from old."

"We'll see bout that. I can still beat you at most anything."

"Think so?"

"I know so," Mike taunted haughtily.

"You're on. Tomorrow morning, be here."


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

"Ready to give up yet?"

"Not by a …. long-shot," Mike panted, picking up his pace to match that of his long-limbed rival. "How far has it been?"

"Only five."

"Five? What would posses you to _want _to run five miles?"

"Beating you. What? The airforce going easy on you having its disadvantages?"

"Going easy? Just cause you're an army brat doesn't mean you can dis the airforce."

"Not the airforce, just you," Saint John teased.

"Why I otta…"

"You otta what? Try to keep up?"

"I'm like super glue; you just can't get rid of me no matter how hard you try."

\A/

"What next, snowboarding?" Rivers asked, still breathing heavily from their run.

"Actually I've never been snowboarding before."

"Me neither, but it would be interesting all right."

"One problem though," Saint John said, "we have no snow."

"True, I guess California in the summertime doesn't work well for snowboarding. We'll have to work on that one. I hear Chile has some pretty nice places for snowboarding and skiing."

"Chile is just out of my range for a day trip though."

"Really? Too bad, I was just getting all excited. I figured with that wolf you've got hidden out in the middle of nowhere it would be a simple milk run."

"We can't use the Lady for our skiing expedition."

"I know, but you have to admit, it is tempting."

\A/

Dominic Santini lounged comfortably on the couch watching reruns of an old western TV series, enjoying his Saturday afternoon off. String had all the boys on a camping trip, Caitlin the cabin to herself, and Saint John had no immediate plans. That meant he had nothing to do but enjoy his weekend.

Picking up his sandwich from the plate on the end table, he took a bite of it and returned his attention to the TV, oblivious to the silent sliding of a window in his bedroom.

The screen was shoved forcefully but not uncarefully. A lean framed man climbed through the opening and slid the window closed once again as if nothing had ever happened. Quietly slipping down the hallway unnoticed, he grasped his gun firmly in hand, raising it towards the Italian on the couch.

"Don't move," he advised. "Do exactly as I say, quietly, and you won't be hurt."

Santini remained silent, knowing there wasn't a thing in the world he could do at the moment to stop the intruder.

"Good, now I want you to march yourself directly to the van that is going to pull up in precisely one minute, without any trouble. You do, and you'll get a bullet through the brains. And I don't think you're precious little boys would like getting that news very much, although they are all grown up now…"

"Leave them out of this."

"No can do. Besides, Saint John is already looking forward to a vacation in the snow. If we can't them separated we might have to prepare some extra room for Mike Rivers, I believe, and all those pesky kids. Can't say I'm really looking forward to getting to babysit." Dropping his gaze for the briefest of seconds, he glanced down at his watch. "Looks like you ride should be here, get moving."

\A/

**Two Days Later…**

Saint John Hawke had unlocked the door, started the coffee, and gotten everything ready, but still he was the only one there. Where was everyone else?

"Santini Air, cabin," Caitlin's frantic voice came over the radio. "Santini Air, come in."

"What is it, Cait?" Saint John placated, curious about her worried tone.

"They're gone, all of them. String, Le, Chance, and Joshua never came home from their camping trip. The Jet Ranger they took is still missing and there isn't any sign of them."

"Did you try the chopper's radio?"

"I did."

"Alright, I'll be there as soon as I can," he promised, memories coming flooding back.

_Could he be any heavier? he wondered, struggling to haul his younger brother the rest of the way to the cabin. For such a skinny little thing, he sure seemed awfully heavy. Finally he was able to drag him inside, trying to keep him warm and take care of him while he was ready to collapse himself. He had to be strong he kept telling himself, there were no other options._

"_Dom," he radioed. "I… I need your help… there was an accident… our parents - gone. String's just shaking… Dom I'm so scared," he whimpered. He was only fourteen, not ready for this kind of responsibility, felt so alone, so helpless, so scared._

Now he was in Dom's place, the one to come save the day and pick up the pieces. Loosing his parents was far from easy for him, even harder on String, but loosing his only brother, son, nephew, and now adopted son, wouldn't be bearable for him or Caitlin. He didn't believe they could have all drown, so what had happened to them?

Climbing into the remaining Jet Ranger, he started it up, sending the rotors into motion and heading off in the direction of the cabin.

\A/

Caitlin took the hand held radio and set off in search of her husband and the kids. Where they had been planning to stay was a good ways off, but if something went wrong with the chopper, they might have started back on foot or they could be stranded somewhere in between. Any way she looked at it, it wouldn't hurt anything to go ahead and start looking for them.

Choosing the first path around the back of the cabin, and the most direct, Caitlin O'Shaunessey Hawke set off at a steady pace in search of the missing group. The path was a wide one, pine straw strewn, and lined on either side by tall pines, but showed no visible sign of any of them.

"Hawke," she called. "Le?"

Still nothing.

"It's Cait, you guys ok?"

The wind died down and the waves on the lake smoothed out, leaving her alone in dead silence.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

"Are you sure this will work?" Aleo asked hesitantly. "If it doesn't we could have the US's most advanced military aircraft after us, and I don't want to end up dead."

"It will work, my son. We will be assured of that."

"How?"

"Undoubtedly, Mr. Hawke and Mr. Santini's families will come after them, but they don't even know where to look. We have all the time we need," Derrick Desner replied.

"But how will we know that he will do as you programmed him to do?"

"Believe me, we will know."

\A/

He couldn't tear himself away, yet he couldn't bear to watch either. Le turned away, only to turn back a moment later to shout at the men who were getting far too much enjoyment out of his uncle's pain. Something they had injected him with had cause violent shaking and shivering, uncontrollable incoherent babbling, and intense screams of agonizing pain. And they were stuck in the room right next to it all, able to see and hear every moment of it and unable to do anything to stop it.

Josh was terrified and Chance wouldn't stop screaming. He wasn't any less scared, but someone had to be in charge whether he wanted to be or not. He could have sworn he'd even seen Dom at some point, but there wasn't much he could be sure of at moment.

"Get that little brat to shut up, or so help me I'll shoot him," one of the guards growled irritably.

"He might not be screaming if you weren't torturing his father right in front of him," Le retorted angrily. "He's only three."

"Only three, huh? Well, I can tell you this - he won't be making it to four, and if you don't keep him quiet he won't make it through the night."

\A/

"Still nothing. What do you say we call off the search long enough to get the Lady? With her scanners we might be able to pick up something we missed. Besides, Dom should be up at the hangar by now; maybe he'll have some idea what happened to them."

"Alright," Caitlin agreed. She really didn't want to have to call off the search even briefly, but it was obvious they weren't finding them this way, and they did have a much better chance using Airwolf's resources to their advantage.

"I'll drop you off at the hangar so you can tell Dom while I get the Lady."

\A/

Leaning heavily against the cold wall, Le savored the silence, the first they had had since they had been brought here. Whatever they had given String appeared to have mostly worn off, but he wasn't far from comatose and not near and condition to be mounting an escape plan. It looked like it was up to him to come up with one, but how? The three of them were locked up with nowhere to go.

He was tired and the only thing that really appealed was to be back home in his own bed. No, he told himself, sleep would have to wait. Then the wailing began again. Chance started full fledged screaming louder then even before as two men, both now wearing perfectly tailored black suits, reentered the holding cell Hawke was captive in.

Drearily, he raised his head, barely registering their presence, but a presence he didn't want nevertheless. He went to swing at the first one as he approached, but missed, the multitude of blurry images making it hard to pick out which were real and which weren't.

"Hold still, this'll only hurt for a minute," Derrick mocked, preparing a full syringe of an oddly colored pink substance.

"Oh don't lie to him," Aleo chided half seriously, "he may not physically be able to do anything to us, but he isn't stupid."

"It's pretty potent stuff, and he's so drugged already I doubt he can remember his name by this point."

"St-ring-f-fell-ow," the pilot slurred, an unmistakable defiant glint in his eyes despite the bleak circumstances.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

The now irritated henchman still didn't seem that impressed. "Well, he won't know it after this dose," he snickered, finding a vein and administered the drug.

The moment the potent drug hit his system, Hawke began convulsing violently, cries of pain, misery, and agony, and shear helplessness filling the air. His breathing came only in short rapid gasps, muscles jerking involuntarily, and forced to endure more pain than was bearable to watch.

"Give him the rest," the higher ranking man ordered.

"He'll be lucky to survive what you've already given him. He just can't take anymore!"

"Then he will die," he rebutted mercilessly. "Give it to him now."

Reluctantly, he injected the rest of the syringe, wincing as the cries only grew louder and the seizures more severe.

"I'd like to see him resist that," Derrick laughed menacingly, enjoying every minute of Hawke's suffering in a sickeningly warped way.

Le turned away, unable to stand even seeing such a gruesome sight. He had to do something, anything, to put him out of that pain. He thought furiously, but what could he do?

"Daddy!" Chance wailed pitifully, completely aware of everything that they did to his now defenseless father. "Daddy!" He pounded on the window, his high-pitched screams drowned out most the other noise.

"Don't worry, you'll get your chance to scream, kid," the guard outside their prison sneered. "Assuming they don't torture him to death before this evening's out. You might get a first hand chance to see what this is all about first hand as soon as tomorrow."

\A/

Saint John landed the sleek black helicopter on the tarmac outside the Santini Air hangar and waited for Caitlin and Dom to join him, but only Caitlin appeared.

"Where's Dom?"

"I don't know," she shook her head. "He isn't here, there's no note, and I even drove over to his apartment, but he isn't there either."

"Now Dom is missing too? You think it's somehow related?"

"It might be. When's the last time you saw him?"

"Right before we left the hangar Friday afternoon. He said that he was just going to take the time off for some R&R."

"What if they have been missing since Friday? String took the boys out Friday night and I wasn't expecting to hear back from them until Sunday, and the same with Dom."

"They could be anywhere by now then. That's two and a half days," Saint John moaned. "And we don't even know where to start looking."

\A/

Dominic Santini opened his eyes, revealing a blurred multitude of images swimming before him, then shut them hastily to rid himself of the nauseous feeling it gave him. He rubbed his head, painfully trying to remember what had been going on, and doing the last thing he wanted to do at the moment - think.

There had been some kind of shot or injection then excruciating pain; after that all he remembered was waking up here with some sort of half crazed man that had tried killing him, much to the bystanders' enjoyment, until he saw something, kind of like… recognition… then cowered into a far corner, looking terrified at what he had just done until he was hauled off again. Now he was in the floor in a far less than comfortable position with a headache far worse then any hangover he had ever or would ever be able to give him. But that had to be the only explanation. Why else would someone, someone who so closely resembled String, who was practically his own son, attack him in so vicious a manner then suddenly shy away? It simply didn't make sense. Nothing did.

What if it had actually happened? he asked himself. If it really was String? It couldn't have been, he wouldn't ever do that, at least that was he tried to tell himself. He couldn't get his head around the idea of String attacking him like that, but he had seen it, felt it, himself.

Opening his eyes again, this time mores slowly, he took inventory of his surroundings. Through the window of a room on the far side he could see three boys - Le, Josh, and Chance, peering back at him, a concerned look on each of their faces.

Hoarsely he cursed under his breath. They had seen it all. What were they even doing here? String was supposed to have taken them camping over the weekend, not wherever this was

He attempted to climb to his feet, but it was all vain effort. He had no strength, no willpower, nothing to fuel him and give him the necessary energy to escape this nightmare.

Why fight it? The question constantly repeated over and over again in his head. Why bother? It wasn't like whatever he personally could do would actually make any difference.

Why? Because he wanted out of this damn nightmare. Why else? He knew he didn't want to be here, but suddenly he found himself thinking that maybe if he just did whatever they wanted him for they would just let him go.

What was it they were giving him anyway? It had to be messing with his reasoning because he knew these thoughts were a little off, yet he couldn't help thinking them.

If they had String too… That would explain why he thought he had seen him, and if they were pumping him full of drugs that would account for the behavior…

He wasn't sure exactly what they had done to get in this mess, but they were well into it and the circumstances were only getting worse the more time that went by.

He struggled to his feet, leaning against heavily the sturdy wall and slipping multiple times before he finally managed to gain his footing and stumbled across the room.

Le was staring anxiously through the other window at his uncle, from the sounds of it Chance was putting up quite a fuss, and poor Joshua looked like he was at his breaking point.

Poor kids, Dom thought miserably. They didn't deserve this, hadn't done anything to deserve this kind of treatment, yet they were imprisoned here all the same, forced to watch their own family being slowly tortured to death right before their eyes and not being able to do a thing in the world to stop it, no matter how much they might have wanted to.

His world rocked haphazardly, indicating the drugs hadn't totally worn off yet, as he staggered across what seemed to be and ever lengthening empty room toward the room where he could see the forlorn looking boys.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

"I want my Mommy!" Joshua fussed, "I want my mommy!"

"Shut up or you'll be the one getting it instead of that other fussy little brat," Derrick warned, entering the room through the reinforced steel door.

"Come on, little one, it's time to go see your Daddy," he teased, finding much satisfaction in how easily the three year old was to persuade.

"Daddy," Chance agreed wholeheartedly.

"No," Le warned, "don't go."

"Want Daddy," Chance objected.

"It's a trick, not really your Daddy. He's a bad man trying to hurt you."

Derrick yanked Le's grip on the toddler's hand off and guided him through the doorway, slamming it closed behind them.

Le pounded on the door, demanding they let his cousin go, but to no avail. It was too late for that.

Calm and in control in appearance, Hawke was escorted into the room Chance had just been left in, but there was an unusual dangerous glint in his eyes. They were a stormy blue, frosted over with an unconcerned, ruthless, glimmer, and showed not even the slightest hint of recognition or affection for his son. Surprisingly, he didn't look particularly worse for wear after the torment he had been through, but rather worse a casual nonchalance over his features.

Dominic, who could only see through the barred window between the two rooms, watched curiously as Hawke, his own gun tucked into his waistband, followed Derrick into the center of the room.

"You know what you are to do? he double checked.

Hawke nodded, and Dom's eyes grew wide in horror as he leveled the gun on his own son.

\A/

"All of them missing?" Michael repeated incredulously. "How do all of them just disappear for two days and no one take notice?"

"We weren't expecting to see them. String was taking the kids camping over the weekend, and Dom was going to catch up on some much needed rest," Saint John replied.

"You've already filed the missing persons reports?" he surmised.

"That and searched about every inch of Van Nuys and Los Angeles."

"I can spare a few more people to hunt, but without some clue…They could be anywhere. I'm sorry, but there isn't really a whole lot more than hope they can get themselves out of whatever trouble they're in on their own that we can do."

"He searched for me for sixteen years, I can't settle with just hoping."

"He had somewhere to start."

"Yeah the whole countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos!"

"Saint John, it's great to have you back with us, and to have him off my back, but your return was nothing short of a miracle, even you must know that. The odds…"

"Screw the odds Michael! I thought you could be of some help; if you're not going to be, please excuse me so I can get back to finding my brother," the older Hawke ranted, turning on his heels and storming out of the room, door slamming closed behind him.

"So?" Caitlin asked, jumping to her feet and nearly having to jog to keep up.

"It was a pointless waste of time. I don't know how String lived like this for years."

"He had more love and determination to find you than I've ever seen in another person, but he has spent the better part of his life looking, getting hurt both physically and emotionally time and time again. Not many people could do that. He just could live with leaving you behind and moving on with his life. Like it or not, most other people had to accept that you were just gone because they couldn't handle carrying that burden, but for him it was a necessity to keep looking, something to fill the emptiness and replace some of the guilt."

"But it wasn't his fault, the ropes were full, nothing he could do about that."

"He didn't see it that way. He saw that he left you alone when you needed him most."

"Great, now I can feel guilty over making my brother feel guilty over leaving me."

"He wouldn't want that either. You're back now, that's all that matters to him."

\A/

Derrick watched with a satisfied evil smirk on his face as Hawke aimed his own .45 at his only son. If only that serum didn't have such nasty side effects, he thought. Hawke was under his control, this being just a test for the real job, but within a few days, at most, he would be dead. Too bad, he mused, thinking about how much delight he could get in watching him live through every day miserably regretting what he did, to his beloved son of all people.

"String!" Dom shouted, trying something, anything, to distract him and prevent the tragedy that was about to occur. "String, listen to me."

He removed the safety, the singular click of metal against metal echoing in the silence of the room.

"Don't do it."

"Daddy!" Chance called out excitedly, but recognition didn't even flicker in his eyes. "Daddy!" Chance repeated innocently, launching himself towards his father. In seconds, the three year old had covered the ground between them and embraced String in a tight hug, obviously overjoyed to see him.

Confused, Hawke changed position, still training the .45 on the boy.

"Looks like this'll be even more fun than I thought," Derrick said to himself, an evil grin spreading across his face as Hawke's finger tightened around the trigger.

"Daddy," Chance said contentedly, "I missed you."

Suddenly the gun clattered to the floor as he knelt down and picked up the toddler, fingers splaying across his back and drawing him into a tight embrace, tears trickling down his cheeks as he realized what he had almost done.

"Chance, I so sorry," he whispered, emotion choking his voice, "so sorry."

Dom let out a long, relieved sigh. He couldn't bear to think of the consequences there would have been had he actually gone through with it. "String," he warned, hating to break up the tender father-son moment, but knowing he had no choice. " The gun. Get the gun."

In a single fluid motion, Hawke picked up the abandoned sun and took down his captor with one good shot, but Colt remained in hand.

This was worse than instinct. Instinct you could follow, or not, but this was an uncontrollable urge, a need, to kill, shoot, Chance, his own flesh and blood. At war with himself, he alternated between clutching the grip and almost dropping it, every time he almost did through, his hand would involuntarily clench it tightly again. It was something he didn't want to, yet obeyed, too powerless to do anything else. Finally gaining enough control over himself to reengage the safety, he handed it over.

"Carefully, take it to Dom," he directed, handing the colt over, barrel away from the kid. Chance obeyed, although even he looked puzzled by his father's actions.

I've got to be crazy. I just handed my three year old a loaded gun! Hawke mentally told himself, but admittedly it was with good reasoning. And he could trust Chance with it at the moment more than himself, and that was pretty sad. But you almost killed him… How could he ever live with himself knowing that? That he in coldhearted, ruthlessness, carelessness, could taken any little kid's, especially his own son's, life for no good reason.

Reaching through the barred window, Dom took the gun.

"Good job, Chance, good boy." He praised, but his attention was focused on the other pilot though who was still crouched on the floor only about ten feet away from the wall. "String, you alright?"

He received no answer.

"String?"

"No, Dom, I don't think I am."


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

"So where do we look now?"

"I don't know, Cait," Saint John answered truthfully. "I can't just give up, but the police may never find them. For all we know, they could be down the street, or they could be in China, anywhere."

"Well, why might they have gone missing in the first place?" Caitlin asked reasonably. "None of them had anything of much value with them, so I'd figure either they had something personal against them, or they want a trade and will make some kind of demands."

"If they're making demands, they should be doing it soon, I can't imagine _wanting _to keep all of them prisoner very long, but what if it is personal? They wouldn't have any reasoning to contact us, and we might never see them again. We can't let that happen."

\A/

The unbearable pain was coming back again, the uncontrolled shaking and shivering he was all too aware of yet unable to put an end to.

"Dom, you gotta make sure I don't hurt him - Chance. Whatever you have to do to me, don't let me hurt him."

"You couldn't."

"I almost did, just promise me please, Dom. I couldn't live with myself if I did," Hawke pleaded, slinking off into the furthest corner to try dealing with his own problems as best as could on his own, almost wishing Dom would just give it to him now so he could be done with all this pain and never hurt another innocent person again. That'd be a winner all around, wouldn't it?

They wanted him to stick around for some reason, he told himself. Cait and Chance - it wouldn't be fair to leave them, and Dom, he was already asking too much from Dom. He had promised he would be there for Le if he ever needed him, admittedly not as big of a deal now that Saint John was back, but a promise all the same. Sinj - all the lost years he couldn't ever make up, he didn't want to waste what time they did have left, maybe somehow they could get out of this one too, assuming he didn't go hysterical and kill them all. It wouldn't be easy, that much was already obvious, but there were more people than just him to consider in this mess.

\A/

Aleo charged down the hallway, sure something had gone wrong with his father's 'flawless' plan. All morning he had been dreading what his father was going to force Hawke to do, but he should have returned by now. Surely there were easier ways of getting this Airwolf his father so coveted, he thought, but it was what it was.

Reaching the room, he saw something totally unexpected. The kid was unharmed, cradled in Hawke's arms. The cold conscienceless look in his eyes was gone, and now he appeared positively distraught, overwhelmed by a surge of emotion. The gun was nowhere in sight and it seemed Hawke no longer had any interest in it anyway, but this was nothing like it was supposed to be, Derrick lying motionless and dead in a puddle of blood on the floor mere feet away.

"What did you do?!" he demanded, more out of outrage for the act than of whom it was preformed against. It didn't take long for him to realize somebody had to end up dead - either the boy, Hawke, or his father. And if it were Hawke, chances were the rest of the kids would end up the same way sooner or later.

Stringfellow Hawke made no move to attack him though or even to defend himself, only protecting the child that was so precious to him with his own body.

Not knowing what to do, he turned and left the room, slamming the door behind him. He wasn't all that interested in whatever this particular helicopter was, didn't even know or, for that matter, care what an Airwolf was, but his father had obviously found it worth the risks he was taking to gain control of it, even through hurting innocent little children and their families. He understood why Hawke had done what he did, but Derrick was still his father. He couldn't just kill him, but he couldn't let him go either.

\A/

"String?" Dom said worriedly.

"No, Dom, I'm most definitely not ok," Hawke admitted, although he still tried to mask at least some of the agony he was in. It was like he was being ripped apart inside and out between what he was trying to do and what his body involuntarily forced him to do. At the moment he was winning physically, but not without consequences, the potent drugs undeniably taking their toll on his system. "Got to get out of here now," he said weakly." He directed Chance away from his towards the other side of the room and as far away from him as possible. "Dom, if you can get him through the bars to your side."

"Why?" Dominic asked. "It won't change anything."

"Please," he begged. "I don't want to h-hurt him. Don't think I'd make it anyway. He doesn't need to watch me slowly die right in front of him."

"You're not dead and you don't have to do die, but you are going to have to work with me."

"You don't have any choice," he answered back, near tears, "just go." He knew what he was asking, the same thing he had been forced to do with Saint John, and he felt guilty for it every day of his life, but same as it had been then, there was no other option.

"Kid, give it up cause I ain't leavin' you, even if I have to throw you over my shoulder and drag you out kickin' and screamin'."


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

"Go ahead, Michael," Saint John said in answer to the spy's summon.

"I don't know anything for fact, keep in mind, but German Special agent Dr. Derrick Desner, a foreigner believed to have actively aided in mercenary terrorist groups, recently came to the United States. The police, FBI, FIRM, and several other agencies have been trying to prove his involvement, and meanwhile keeping an eye on he and his family, but both he and Aleo, his son allegedly disappeared about three or four days ago."

"So where'd they go?"

"Don't get your hopes up since we don't even know that these are your guys, but they are believed to be hiding out in an underground bunker near the Arizona-Mexico border."

"Underground you said? Great. Something else to make finding them even more difficult."

"True, but they also have been suspected of using a highly concentrated liquid substance similar in many ways to LSD for mind control and brainwashing."

"And Airwolf's scanners would pick that up for miles if they had much of it," Saint John finished. "Thanks Michael; we'll be in touch."

\A/

While he hadn't gotten anywhere near the dosage String had gotten, he was already feeling the aftereffects of the drugs on his system as he dragged the younger man down the hall. Taking out the locks on the door had used another three bullets, and now they were down to three. He doubted String would be of much help if they did get into a fight, though no fault of his own. If he was feeling it, he couldn't imagine what String felt like, but things would only get better if they got out of here.

Hawke stumbled forward, trying to sustain at least part of his own weight, but his legs were like jelly. He was going to have to do something to help, he knew; Dom wouldn't be able to keep up this grueling pace long.

"How you doing, String?" Dom panted, stopping momentarily to take a breath.

"If anything worse," he answered miserably. "I mean it, Dom. Take the kids and get out of here. There's no way you can get us all out and I'm only slowing you down."

"So I should leave you for them to pump more drugs into, maybe kill somebody, then melt helplessly to the floor while they do whatever they please with you?" the older man asked incredulously.

"You have to, that or hand me the gun and I'll end it now."

It's the drugs talking, Dom tried to tell himself as he thought of a comeback against the younger man's suicide suggestion. He doesn't actually mean that, just wants to get us out of here safely and feels he's only being a hindrance.

"Would you leave Saint John again, even if it saved your own life? Or could you kill him so he didn't have to go through it all again?" There really was no question here for the younger man he knew.

"I-I couldn't. I'd sacrifice my own life before I could let either of those happen," he answered, understanding where Dom was coming from. Laving him made more sense, was the wiser choice, but Dom couldn't do that to him any more than he could for his brother. He would get them all out or die trying. Love for each other, he thought with a sigh as he staggered underneath his own weight, look at all the trouble it got them into…

\A/

"I've got high readings of LSD and some nuclear armament in the area," Caitlin reported, "the most of which is a quarter mile ahead in what appears to be a cellar or something under the house."

"Any sign of the other?" Saint John asked hopefully.

"None yet, but there is a lit of activity going on upstairs - two men fighting with each other and another is already dead. Guards position strategically inside and out. I can't get a clear reading on what's in the underground structure though," Caitlin conveyed as she read the readings off the screen in front of her, fingers clicking over the keyboard as she ran another scan and patched in the audio.

"Dead. You hear me? Dead! My father is dead because of you a harebrained scheme to get control of a piece of United States military hardware. Even is we did get a hold of it, they'd constantly be sending someone after us to get it back," the man ranted. "Just let them go, all of them. Make them forget this all happened and send them packing. I'm done with this, tired of always being on the run. I'll set up a new identity, become a new person, and start a new life."

"That has always been your problem. You get scared and run. Well, it's about time you start living up to your end of the deal and do something other than disappear!" the second fired back.

"No. I'm done. No more of this ever again." He turned to leave the room, but never made it farther than a couple of steps, the single shot and dull thud as the deadweight hit the floor clearly audible, dead before he ever hit the ground.

\A/

Chance clung to his father's hand tightly, staying with the group without even having to be told while Le and Joshua, following Dom's orders, brought up the rear.

Hawke, who was, although struggling, mostly supporting himself, stumbled, almost taking down the rest of the group with him. "Quick breath," he panted, dropping down to lean against the wall. He drew up his knees, folding his arms and resting his head on them as he waited for the dizzy spell to pass. But it didn't. Sweat poured off him until he felt as if he would drown in it, his head pounding and heart racing, with every fiber of him feeling like it was being pulled in a different direction. Going through a blender had to be less painful, or getting hit by a semi, or most anything, he admitted darkly.

"Better get going," he panted raggedly, "Or I won't make it anywhere."

"Alright," Dom agreed, he too now breathing heavily. "Come on, kids, let's go."

Each heaving to their feet, they started off down the hallway once again.

\A/

Caitlin and Saint John, both now armed, alighted from Airwolf, securing her and heading in the direction of the house, ducking behind trees to keep out of sight as much as possible.

"Got your radio?" Saint John checked.

Caitlin nodded.

"I'll take the front then and you go around back. If you haven't found them or heard from me in fifteen minutes, meet back at Airwolf."

"Got it," Cait replied, quickly rechecking the clip in her gun then setting of at a steady jog towards the building.

Saint John took a more direct route to the front of the house, slipped behind one guard and rendering him unconscious before he knew what hit him. He then came through the doorway and started his investigation of the house. The first room was a small one with little furniture that he quickly deemed useless in his hunt and moved on to the next one. The second was a bedroom with a bed that looked as if it had never been slept in and an empty closet and dresser. So far the place appeared to be abandoned, but he persevered.

"Come on," he muttered, "they've got to be here, they've just got to be."

The short hallway he crept down led him to a kitchen which he found to have been used much more. Various bottles, many of which were labeled in Russian, German, and Latin with words he couldn't even begin to pronounce lined the shelves and every available place on the counter. The refrigerator was filled with more bottles, vials, and syringes and notes scribbled on scrap pieces of paper. On the stove something started to boil over the top of an enormous pot, creating a terrible smell almost comparable to the awful odor napalm created as it burnt the flesh off of its victims.

Hurriedly turning it off, he searched through the assortment of potions for something he could actually read or understand. He had wasted another five minutes in his futile search when Caitlin radioed him.

"Nothing," he replied in answer to her question, "at least nothing I can understand. You don't by any chance read Russian, German, or Latin do you?"

"Afraid not. I have to stick to good old English, but I'll come assist you in any way I can if you tell me where you are."

"Don't worry about it. I've already been through everything twice and haven't found anything, but they have at least been here recently."

"Roget that. I'll keep looking," Caitlin replied, tucking the handheld radio back into the waistband of her flight suit and continuing down the back of the house. There was something a little off, but she couldn't quite place what it was.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

The outside was larger than the inside, she suddenly realized. Somewhere there had to be a hidden room or alcove.

"Saint John."

She received no answer.

"Saint John, are you there?"

Still nothing.

Ok, from he said, he had to be in the kitchen, she reasoned. If she could find the kitchen she should be able to find Saint John then look for the entry to the secret room and find the others. Besides, the house wasn't that big, how hard could it be?

\A/

Reentering the front door for what seemed to be about the millionth time, Caitlin walked through the sparsely furnished living room and into the bedroom. Nobody there. Following the outside wall down a narrow hallway, she finally came across the kitchen, wondering how she had missed it before.

Saint John was being dragged across the tile floor into what appeared to be a pantry, but he didn't stop there. Tying his hands and feet together, then a gag across his mouth, the unidentified man muttered threats of his soon return and shut the door, quickly disappearing from sight.

As soon as she was sure there wasn't anyone else in the immediate vicinity, she went to the pantry, pulling and tugging on the door was hard as she could, but it refused to budge.

"Who the heck locks a pantry?" she muttered, finally giving into the fact that wasn't getting her anywhere. A well placed kick broke through the thin wood easily though and allowed her access inside.

Saint John who was just starting to come to. Started, relieved to see Caitlin who deftly unbound him.

"Glad you found me, although I did get a little worried when your foot came through and that splintered wood started falling."

"Sorry, but I couldn't think of any other way to get in."

"Yeah, I understand," he said, stretching his stiff neck. "I don't think they'll all that happy to have us here though, so we better find the other and get out of here."

\A/

Red-faced and straining, Dom along with that help he could get from the kids, now practically had to drag Hawke down the narrowing corridor. He was only semiconscious at times and seemed delirious at times - that was only getting worse, and Dom had no doubt that he was well on the way to succumbing to the same thing, but what else was he supposed to do? Just give up? He was about the only hope there was for getting them at of here.

"Sinj," Hawke murmured.

Please don't start muttering incoherently, Dom thought. They were still trying to _sneak _out of here and he needed something to help him, not make things worse.

"Sinj 'n Cait," he rasped hoarsely. "Up-upstairs."

Dom didn't give it much thought initially; with all the other havoc - fever, seizures, agonizing pain, difficulty breathing, and unbearable pounding headache, and a whole mess of other things - incoherent babbling and hallucinations didn't seem like such a stretch, but then again, he did have that amazing hearing. Between trying to figure out how to escape this place, getting the others out and being passed out or drugged a good portion of the time, he hadn't spent much time dwelling on how long they had actually been held captive. There weren't any windows to judge by sunlight and their watches had been confiscated upon arrival, but it had to have been a couple days at least. Saint John and Caitlin could have very likely gone after them. How in the world they would find them here, wherever her was, he didn't know, but he wasn't about to knock any rescue plans either.

"Saint John and Caitlin are upstairs?"

He nodded silently.

"Ok, let's go find them." They weren't doing very well on their own at the moment, what could it hurt to find out?

\A/

"The outside walls are a little bit longer than the length of the house; I think there is a hidden room or something."

"Come to think of it, there was something kind of off in how the furniture was arranged in the bedroom. The bed was practically in the middle of the room, right in front of the dresser.

Hurrying off to the bedroom, they shoved the bed out of the way, revealing nothing. Next, they moved the dresser, this time uncovering a door in the wall.

"They're down there, they have to be." Caitlin pulled on the handle, finally forcing it open. Behind the door was total darkness, a ladder leading into the dark pit, and faint noises echoing off the walls of the tunnel.

"H-hold on," a voice echoed weakly from the bottom. "Gotta make it myself. You'll never get me all the way up there."

"That's them." Saint John started down the wobbly ladder towards the voices at the bottom. Now also convinced it had to be them, Caitlin was only a step behind.

\A/

Breathless, Hawke remained at the bottom of the ladder trying to summon the necessary energy to climb up. Dom should be about to the top by now and he had sent Le and Joshua up a moment ago. Now Chance clung to the bottom rung of the ladder waiting to go up, waiting on him.

He had instructed him to continue upwards, but, as usual, the three year old stubbornly refused to leave his father and he didn't have the strength to do anything about it at the moment.

And he still cares, he thought to himself in disbelief, even after what I almost did… that was something he couldn't forgive himself for, forced him to take a step back and reconsider things - his family, job, life in general. For the longest time, the only thing that his life would have ever really affected was Dom's, but now Saint John, Caitlin, and Chance's live were affected too… What happened to him did actually matter to them. While they might be able to understand his decisions and the sacrifices he was willing to make, the consequences of his actions, whatever they were, would shape how they thought about things and handled life.

How might it be different if his parents hadn't died when he was still so young? If he hadn't gone to Vietnam and witnessed first hand the death, destruction and devastation that war could cause? If he hadn't lost Saint John and spent half his life searching for him? If he had it all to do over again, would he do anything differently? Honestly he couldn't answer that, maybe he would change some things if he could, but he didn't regret most of the major decisions he had made. He regretted losing Saint John for so many years, but no the searching for him. Sometimes regretted getting involved with the FIRM missions and sometimes even Airwolf, but without doing that he might have never found his brother. He wished at times he could and say things a little differently or take back something he should have never said in the first place, wished he could have spent a little more with family, being grateful for what he did have, that he had lived this long. But he couldn't. All he could do was do the best he could with what he had under the circumstances; if nothing else, 'Nam had taught him that, He may not be able to always change the end result, but he could try and he could change the reason of why he did what he did.

"Go on, Chance."

"Daddy come."

"Yeah, Daddy's coming." Summoning all his remaining strength, he shoved up to his feet, grasping the ladder for support, and slowly, rung by rung, made his way up.


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

Hands shaking, he grasped the top rung, sweat making them slippery as he struggled to maintain a firm grip. The ladder wobbled and swayed, the weak step buckling even under his lean frame. The rung gave way, splitting beneath his feet as his faltering grasp slipped.

A strong hand caught his the moment before he fell, Saint John hauling him up and through the opening.

"Good thing you're not any heavier, little brother," Saint John panted as he lay sprawled across the floor. But their reunion was cut short by the abrupt entry of two masked men with automatic rifles and side arms.

\A/

"You have made it further than we would have ever suspected," one admitted in a decided accent. "But, you see, it doesn't really matter because I'm sure you've brought with you what we're really after anyway."

"And what might that be?" Saint John asked innocently.

"Airwolf, of course."

"You're wrong. We didn't bring her; we wouldn't be able to all fit inside," he denied the accusation, only then remembering the fact they actually would all fit and trying to some up with another form of transportation.

"Then I'm sure you would be willing to show us where it is."

"Why?" Saint John asked bluntly. "I can't think of a single reason why I would even consider doing that."

"Because, as you can undoubtedly see, both Mr. Santini and Mr. Hawke are a little worse for wear, I'm afraid I have to warn you it will only get worse. The _drugs_ they have been injected with not only allows temporary mind control, but also causes some serious damage to the central nervous system. Once in the blood stream, it will spread throughout the entire body at first only causing minor side effects like pounding headaches, fever, and hallucinations, growing worse until eventually the recipient of this potent substance will suffer from excruciating pain, seizures, extreme fatigue, difficulty breathing, and finally complete cardiovascular and respiratory failure. The only way you even have a vague chance of helping them is with immediate medical treatment and it still may be too late for, ah…. Mr. Stringfellow," he challenged, gesturing towards the nearly motionless man gasping for air behind them and red-faced older man not doing much better. "But you won't be going anywhere until I have that helicopter.

What are we going to do? Saint John demanded of himself. He wasn't about to give up Airwolf for a whole multitude of reasons, but he couldn't sit here and watch String and Dom struggle for each breath until their bodies just shut down either. There was no way to win. No, there had to be someway, he just had to find it.

"Sinj," String said in a suffocating whisper. "I'll take them while you all get out, a distraction."

"You mean exchange your life for ours."

"D-Don't want to die…." he wheezed, "but gonna… any-way."

"You're not going to die. If you just give me a minute I'll come up with a plan to get us **all** out of here **alive**."

"Shut up," their German captor ordered, then suddenly startled in realization. "Where are the children? Where are they?!"

_Nobody pays attention to the little guys, he thought, at least nobody does until he appears out of nowhere yelling something about his father being all drugged up and about to be shot. And **then** someone __would come looking._

A sudden worried look crossed both Hawke brothers' faces, but Caitlin quickly reassured them.

"Find them and bring them back unharmed. Now!"

The second man hastily left in search of the kids while the first returned to his "negotiating."

"So, Mr. Hawke, what will it be?"

"Go to hell."


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

"Still no luck in reaching Airwolf?" Marella surmised.

Michael nodded. "Maybe we should send in reinforcements. They were supposed to check in by six and it's nearly nine and we haven't heard from them."

\A/

"Hurry, come on," Le prodded. Someone was after them, he could sense it, but they were the only hope. Airwolf was just beyond this tree cluster according to Caitlin's instructions, and sure enough, there she was. "Everyone inside," he directed, taking the last few steps and pulling open the hatch door. Both Chance and Joshua scrambled in, Le entering last, and tugging the door closed.

An array of buttons and switches met him, too many to count it seemed and far more at the engineer's console in the back.

"I'm so glad I didn't have to learn to fly in Airwolf," he murmured to himself as he looked at every button on the communications panel. Finally he found the one he was looking for right next to the one labeled 'Shrike.' Carefully pressing it, he connected the radio link back to Knightsbridge where Marella answered.

"Le?"

"Yeah. Me, Josh, and Chance are in Airwolf, but the others are still inside."

"I've got a team on the way now," Marella assured him, signaling Samantha to prepare Zebra Squad. "What is the current situation inside?" she asked, using anything she could to better brief the team and keep Le occupied.

"Well, they're all being held captive by a masked man with a gun, I think German, and Uncle String and Dom aren't doing so well."

"Specifically, what's wrong with them?" Marella inquired.

"Breathing hard, really tired, and in a lot of pain. And sometimes little jerks or compulsory movements. Uncle String has it worse, I think he got more of the drugs, but neither is very good."

"Just hang tight there as long as you're safe then," Marella instructed. "Zebra squad is on its way and I'll personally see to having a room prepared for the others and a team of doctors waiting," she assured him, "you're doing a great job Le."

"If I'm doing such a great job why is my family being held prisoner, maybe dying and I'm just sitting here? I hear about things happening all the time and have been around it my whole life. Marella, I'm just so scared for them."

"It's ok. It's only natural to be afraid. This time it seems more real because it's actually you and your family involved and being the hero isn't always as glorious as it looks. You just have to do the best you can."

"But what if that's not enough?"

"It will be, just keep track of the other two and it will turn out alright."

"Promise?"

There was a brief hesitation on the other end; she knew what problems unfulfilled promises could cause, but also how much the assurance would mean to Le, and he would have to keep his head if things were going to turn out for the better…

"Promise."

\A/

"You don't seem to understand. If I don't let you go, and soon, you will die. Your wife, brother, surrogate father, and every one of those dratted kids will be joining you too and there won't have been any reason for fighting to get this far, I'm sure you wouldn't want that."

"N-Not giving up the Lady."

"Your loyalty and devotion are admirable, Hawke, but one way or another I will get Airwolf, there is no doubt about that."

"Not in my lifetime."

"Which is soon going to be cut short I'm afraid."

He was unable to make any remark though as he succumbed to another violent fit of coughing. "I…" he gasped, still struggling to draw in a full breath then falling victim to another wave of sickness again."

"You're only making it worse," the captor warned.

Hawke made no rebuttal, no move.

"Cait," Dom rasped, "he's out."

Abruptly leaping from his position, Saint John came across their captor in a flying tackle, knocking him to the ground. "You and Dom get out."

"But what about-"

"Go!" he called out over the noise of gunfire as a couple rounds pelted through the ceiling as Saint John and the German fought over the rifle.

With Caitlin supporting as much of Dom's weight as she could, the two escaped out the doorway and down the hallway towards Airwolf and safety. Overhead the steady chop of rotor blades bit through the air as Zebra Squad rappelled from the white FIRM helicopters and surrounded the building.

\A/

Finally wrestling the gun away only to get it taken away again, Saint John thrust out a well placed booted foot into their captor's stomach causing him to bowl over backwards as he paused only a moment to drape his brother's limp body over his shoulders and make a mad dash down the hall before the German had a chance to recover.

Rushing down the same narrow hallways he had been searching not long ago, he came through the front door, relieved to find all three kids, Caitlin, and Dom safe and Zebra Squad moving into position to overtake the building.

A medical team was already heading in his direction with a stretcher and a life flight helicopter was waiting nearby. The danger was past and the doctors could take over, yet he was reluctant to leave String even with them. In a way, it was like he was saying he was just done; he rescued him out of the immediate danger and now would wait for him to recover, but that wasn't enough. It wasn't logical. Airwolf wouldn't get him to the hospital that much faster without turbos, an added stress his abused body didn't need, and he would have a whole medical crew there if he went with them. He was already in critical condition though, what if he never made it to the hospital? How could he leave him now when String needed him most? Or, was this a case where he should put aside his own personal worried and fears for his brother's wellbeing?

"Mr. Santini is already in the copter," the doctor informed him. "We'll take them to the nearby Mountain view Regional Medical Center for medical treatment if you want to follow.

Follow? He could be there and back four times before they could get there, Saint John thought, knowing that it still wouldn't be of any added use.

"Could I… would it be possible for me to ride too, with them?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid there isn't any room."

He nodded numbly. "I could…" his voice trailed off. " Never mind. I'll meet you at the hospital."

With Dom and String in the life flight helicopter, he Caitlin and the boys would all fit inside Airwolf and they could be there when String woke up. After all, String wouldn't even know the different if he was unconscious, it didn't matter, at least that was what he tried to convince himself of.


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

The silence in the cockpit was an uncomfortable one, almost unbearable, yet not one of them had broken it so far. Undoubtedly, thoughts raced through their minds much as they ran rampant in his own, too many to sort through and each with their own set of new fears. They were barely topping two hundred knots and still ahead of the other chopper, not finding much reason to hurry ahead only to wait when Chance's cries broke through the silence.

"Want Daddy," he whined. "Want Daddy!" Caitlin made no move to quiet him. When he started in like this she knew there was no quieting him, and personally she would have liked to have been screaming something similar.

"Daddy!" he wailed. "Daddy!"

\A/

"Get the defibrillator, we're loosing him again," the EMT ordered. "Now! I don't think that brother of his is going to let any of us live if we let him die on our watch." Not that he could blame him much, he mentally added. He was sure the only reason he hadn't on insisted on personally taking him was because with them he had the medical attention if he should need it, and he was needing it alright.

"He's not doing so great either," the nurse monitoring Dominic's vitals warned. "Oxygen and heart rate have dropped to barely acceptable range."

\A/

Saint John Hawke paced across the waiting room just outside the elevator to the roof for about the twentieth time that minute.

"We should have taken them," he muttered to himself, "they could have been here a while ago."

"Saint John, it'll be ok," Caitlin soothed, wondering if String had been anything like this when he had first lost Saint John, been given the news his brother was down, maybe dead and no one could find him, and there wasn't a thing in the world he could do about it. Probably. She wasn't near as composed and brave at the moment as she was trying to appear either, but what good would it do to break down and cry right now? At least she might feel better. String was her husband, Chance's father, and Dom was far more to her than just an employer too.

Maybe that was it. They were like family to her in the years she had come to know them, and technically she was related to all but Dom now by marriage, but she did have a 'real' family too. String and Dom were the only family he had had for a while, then he went off to war. Family would mean a lot there, she was sure, that was all he had. And for years their memory was the only thing he had to hang onto while he had been held prisoner. She was family by marriage, but String and Dom were the real family and all that was in jeopardy. No wonder he was such a wreck.

\A/

"Excuse me," the doctor said as he pushed past to the ER.

"How-"

The doctor continued to disregard him and marched quickly past him.

"Doctor, just tell me if he's going to make it or not," Saint John demanded, only to be asked to move aside by a nurse as the second gurney came through.

Before he even realized it, Dom too was beyond the locked double doors and he was alone again in the hallway.

Silently sulking down the lonely corridor, he reappeared in the waiting room and dropped into a chair next to Caitlin.

"No news?" she guessed.

"No," he said as he let out a long sigh and shook his head.

"No news is good news though, right?"

"I don't so in this case. They practically mowed me down to get into the emergency room."

Cait laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, unable to find words to say.

"I guess I should be grateful they're so concerned for their wellbeing, but some about what's going on would be nice."

\A/

3 HOURS LATER

Finishing his eighth cup of lukewarm vending machine coffee, Saint John tossed the foam cup into the trash bin and sank deeper into his chair. Three hours and still no news, he thought, surely couldn't be a good thing.

Caitlin had taken the kids downstairs for dinner in the cafeteria, but he declined her invitation to join in hopes that the doctor would come by with an update of String and Dom's condition, but so far no such luck.

He got up and stretched his sore muscles, taking a couple long steps and ending up on the opposite end of the small room. It couldn't hurt anything to ask he decided, so he walked down the hall in search of some information. Lost in his own thoughts, he didn't realize the nurse already coming toward him with a mountain of books and papers threatening to avalanche, when he collided with her, scattering the items all over the place.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he apologized, reaching down to gather the mess he'd just created.

"No, it was my fault. I should have been watching where I was going. Really, it's no big deal. I'll get it. I wouldn't want to keep you."

"I'm in no hurry. My brother's still in surgery I guess."

She stopped and looked up at him for a minute. "Your name wouldn't happen to be 'Sinj', or something like that, would it?"

"Actually, my name would be Saint John; Sinj is what my brother, String, calls me sometimes though."

She smiled. "I kinda like it. And I think you'll be glad to know he isn't planning on going out without one helluva fight. I don't know how he's even remained conscious as long as he has with what he's been going through. The doctors have flushed out his system with antibiotics, and they've given him a blood transfusion to replace some of the contaminated blood. Told him he needed to get some rest and gave him a mile long list of painkillers, but he refuses any more treatment until he's seen you."

"Lead the way then."

Abandoning the disaster in the hallway, the pretty young brunette led the way into the intensive care unit and then to section that Stringfellow Hawke so impatiently waiting in.


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

Even with the high dosage of medications they already had him on, it was obvious there was still a long way to go, but nothing they had done seemed to affect that snooper mike hearing of his.

The door had slipped shut behind him silently, but it was enough to gain the attention of his brother, a weary grin spreading across his face upon seeing him.

"Thought I was going to have to find you myself," he remarked in a hoarse whisper.

"And knowing you, you would probably do that."

"You bet I would. How are Cait and the kids holding up? Better than you look to be I hope."

"Anxious to hear some good news, but far from giving up hope," Saint John replied.

"Good to know. And Dom?"

"Haven't been able to see him yet either, but I'll let you know as soon as I do. What about you? You still hanging in there? Gave me, at least, quite a scare."

"More or less. They keep telling me to get some rest before I have visitors, though don't seem to understand I can't have any rest before I see my visitors, all of them."

"I'll see if I can do something about that then so that you stay in bed instead of hunting for them.

String nodded in acceptance. "I promise to stay put, but only if you hurry up."

"I'll be right back then."

"One more thing, Sinj."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for everything. I may not have been totally with it, but enough to see you got everyone out safely then lugged me all the way out of the maze.

"No problem, that's what brothers are for, right?"

"Yeah, only it seems that's what big brothers are for. Little brothers just get in all the trouble."

"Maybe we'll have to change that some time, wouldn't want you to have all the fun."

"Can't say I much agree on the fun part, but I'm not planning on leaving you either."

\A/

At last Caitlin pulled away from the long embrace to let the kids get their turn, although reluctant to let go. She had been so close to loosing him….it only felt natural to keep him near.

But he did need to breathe, she admitted, and it wasn't fair to hog him for herself. They had been forced to watch all the pain and misery he had endured, surely it wasn't that much to ask that they get their hugs and give their get well wishes too.

He drew his nephew in for a hug and Chance wasted no time in climbing up onto the bed beside him. Even Joshua joined in the group hug.

"You two, too," he said to Saint John and Caitlin, embracing them tightly.

Kaleen, the nurse Saint John ran into in the hallway, reentered the room pushing Dom's wheelchair.

"It looks like you have a new roommate, Hawke," she commented, "uh, Stringfellow Hawke," she corrected upon seeing the whole family. "But, on the other hand, maybe it is Hawkes, it doesn't look like any of you are planning to be leaving anytime soon," she added with a knowing smile.

"C-Could you bring Dom over here?" String requested, still a little short of breath.

"Sure," she gladly acquiesced, "but you do need to get some sleep sp try not to be too long and I'll be just down the hall if you need anything." Kaleen wheeled Dominic up next to the bed and turned to leave, watching what she knew the doctors would have a fit over if they saw as with Saint John's help Dom got out of the wheelchair and sat on the edge of the bed. After only a moment it seemed both her patients were buried in a mass of arms clasping each other in what was definitely the most touching group hug she had ever, or probably would ever, witnessed.

Hawke drew in a deep breath and pulled his family closer, never wanting to let go. The weight on against his chest made it difficult to breath, and sure wasn't doing anything to make his abused body physically feel better, but he wouldn't have traded that moment for the world.


End file.
